My rating of Fran's on College Street is based on overall convenience and offered services. It is a great place to eat breakfast in the middle of the night. Occasionally service may be slower between the hours of last call and about 4am as it can be a popular place for people to eat after bars close, this can also create a little more noise and contribute to a short line of people waiting to be seated.
It is a retro diner, I like the scenery, and it is reliable time and time again. It is also better than Denny's or the Golden Griddle.
Coffee costs a little more than the average restaurant but has free refills on request. The downside to this are the limited sugar packets and lil coffee creamers. If they had refillable sugar pouring jars on each table and a small personal sized stainless spout full of 10% half and half cream with their coffee then I would rank Fran's on College the full 5 stars, but instead I have rated 4 based on the limited creamers and sugar packets. I usually ask for more cream and sugar with each cup. When I am eating breakfast in the middle of the night, I want to drink 3 coffees during the visit and would like to do so with a ton of sugar in my coffee and enough cream to give my cup a light complexion. Instead I ration the sugar and do what I can with the little cream that they give.
Depending on the time of night, for example after the bars close and nothing else is open... the place might be filled with people, so a group of 4 or more may sometimes be challenging to get seated. I smoke therefore never gave a shit when this happened to me and I just hung around outside until a table became available.
This isn't the Vatican, it's Fran's. It's a diner. You eat breakfast, or maybe burgers and fries. I rate this restaurant above average in terms of product/accessibility/reliability. I have sympathy for the people from NY who had a kitchen crew quit on their visit. That has happened to me before at another place so I can relate and can understand the hate.
Overall this place is like an on and off again girlfriend who comes in handy every other weekend between the hours of 1:30am and 4:00am. You can't do it everyday but once in a while it does the trick and you both know you'll be back for more in a couple of weeks. Fran's is a friend with bennies and is reliable time and time again. It may never be marriage material but it will also never disappoint or let you down and will never attempt to be something it is not.